<!DOCTYPE html><html><head>
<style type="text/css">body { font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:12px}</style>
</head>
<body><div>So who is the central bank? One problems overlooked in the euro crisis is that those countries no longer have soveriegn currency that is managed by a central bank.</div><div>Even the alleged Central Bank of the European Union lacks the basic authority that our Fed. has.</div><div>What is the equivalent in bitcoins?</div><div><br></div><div>On Wed, 04 Sep 2013 02:18:42 -0400, wes <wes@the-wes.com> wrote:<br></div><br><blockquote style="margin: 0 0 0.80ex; border-left: #0000FF 2px solid; padding-left: 1ex"><div dir="ltr">I don't have a dog in the bitcoin fight, however I do want to bring to light one point which you did not address:<div><br></div><div>the world needs a usable independent currency.</div><div><br></div><div>

as society moves inexorably towards globalization, more and more strife is coming from the varying values of money. people are going to war over inflation. even if bitcoin crashes and burns, it will serve as a learning experience to the next attempt to achieve a global currency. the lessons we're learning right now will be our education on the subject.</div>

<div><br></div><div>if it's a scam, it will eventually come out, and we'll learn how to make the next one non-scammy. until then, people should be free to invest in this hobby, to win or lose money as they see fit. most of the audience your messages are reaching are very aware individuals who aren't easily fooled. every time you repeat "you're all being scammed!" you are insulting our collective intelligence.</div>

<div><br></div><div>that doesn't mean I think you should refrain from commenting on the subject, but I would really like to see something more specific or substantial. most of what I'm seeing from you can be paraphrased as the above repeated statement.</div>

miners [[ early enough to generate a profit (barring another bubble). ]] There<br>are [[ very few ]] [[ technical ]] barriers to mining other than cash. Right now, that<br>requires a minimum $5K [[ investment ]] and [[ may ]] not deliver returns [[ any time soon<br>

<span style="text-align:-webkit-auto;text-indent:0px"><div style="word-wrap:break-word"><br></div></span></div></span></div></span></div></span></div></span>"There are none so blind as those who will not see."</div>

</span><br></div><div style="word-wrap:break-word">YES, "there are NO technical barriers to 'mining.'" Other than the O-N-E ... T-H-I-N-G ... that actually matters to the clever mathematicians who conceived of it: </div>

<div style="word-wrap:break-word"><br></div><div style="word-wrap:break-word">UNITED STATES DOLLARS.</div><div style="word-wrap:break-word"><br></div></span>You're paying $5,000 USD for "a magical money machine," and it's S-L-O-W-L-Y dawning on you that the words which I have enclosed in [[ double brackets ]] can be omitted entirely from these sentences.</span></div>

<div><br></div><div>You're being very cleverly suckered. It's as simple as that. And, you're pouring serious money ( >= $5000 USD ) into "the same damn con" that has been foisted upon "clever, smart" (sic) people, well, since time began.</div>

<div><br></div><div>"Public-key cryptography" is designed around a truly-intractable (so far as we know ...) mathematical problem. Whereas "bitcoin" is designed around a =difficult= problem (at least, "difficult" in the way that all of you have been taught to approach it ...), yet "not so difficult that it cannot be, by sheer brute force, periodically solved." A quarter has to drop out of the one-armed bandit now and then, just to keep the suckers going. Obviously, there IS a "private key" to this puzzle, and, equally obviously, you don't have it. All of this is plenty good enough to enable people to sell you(!) these mathematical one-armed bandits for $5,000 USD a pop.</div>

<div><br></div><div>There is no "bubble." There is only: "sucker."</div><div><br></div><div>" ... and two to take him."</div><div><br></div></div><br>_______________________________________________<br>